Cellular telephones and various other wireless devices utilizing the Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”) system are used worldwide. Such devices employ a smart card including a Subscriber Identity Module (“SIM”) that identifies the subscriber, and stores various subscriber information. Technically, a SIM is an application residing in an integrated circuit card (“ICC”). However, the card itself is commonly referred to as a “SIM card.” A SIM card is issued by a wireless networking company for insertion into a wireless device used on the company's network. The SIM card is advantageous in that the subscriber information stored therein, for example, contact information, text messages, etc., can be easily transferred from one device to another by moving the SIM card.
In the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (“UMTS”), the Universal Integrated Circuit Card (“UICC”) is used. The UICC is analogous to the SIM card, but allows extended functionality. The UICC card comprises a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (“USIM”) corresponding to the SIM of the GSM SIM card, and a USIM Application Toolkit that enables the wireless device to be configured directly via the UMTS radio network. Like the SIM, the USIM stores subscriber and authentication information that enable network access. The USIM also provides storage for third party application programs.
UICC cards generally employ an external interface specified by the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”), specifically, ISO 7816. Different parts of the ISO 7816 standard specify different physical and electrical interfaces for use with various smart cards, such as the UICC card.